November 14, 2012

Meet the new U.S. magistrate judge in the Dallas division

David Horan will take the bench on Nov. 21 as a U.S. magistrate judge for the Northern District of Texas. Horan, who is currently a partner and leader of the issues and appeals practice in the Dallas office of Jones Day, will replace U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeff Kaplan, who left the bench for private practice.

“I’ve always wanted to enter public service and to do so by serving on the bench. It was a dream come true that this opportunity came along and it worked out that I will be able to take the bench and serve on the federal bench in the Northern District of Texas,” Horan says.

Northern District judges selected Horan Aug. 29, but he says his selection wasn’t announced until Friday, after he cleared an FBI background check, which is standard procedure for new magistrate judges.

During the application process, Horan got to list something on his résumé that few lawyers can: He has argued a case pro bono before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, challenging a sentence on behalf of a prisoner in Gould v. United States. Horan ultimately lost that case but says “it was certainly a career highlight for me.”